Finding the Girls
by ViTaL-4-SRvIIvAL
Summary: Starfire and Raven have been gone for three days. They leave a mysterious/frantic phone message that creates more questions than it answers. Only, they weren't taken - they left...
1. Chapter 1

The day started off quiet and smooth, no disturbances.

Robin awoke to the pleasant feel of sunlight warming his cheek. He raised his head and glanced up slightly at the thin shaft of light leaking through the space between the curtains. With a sleepy sigh, he cast his eyes over the glowing clock, a full five minutes before it was set to go off. His sheets were wrapped around his legs, but he was too comfortable and lead-bodied to try and disentangle them.

_Too good to be true_, he thought hazily.

He turned onto his back, the warm patch of light warming the top off his head now, and thought for a moment. He'd finished repairing his bike the other day, after he'd crashed it into the head of a mutated sewer slug about a week ago. That weapon's upgrade he'd installed into his belt was finished. Cyborg had been going to take care of the rest of the updates to the security system on the tower the other day. By the sunny cast of the sky, it didn't seem as if the world was in danger of ending just yet, and so today had nothing very pressing to attend to.

Stretching his arms above his head, he rolled languidly out of bed as his alarm went off. The sheets slid of his bare, muscled back and fell in a waterfall from his bed to the floor as he headed to the restroom.

With all the slow, consistency of a thousand times performing the same routine, Robin took a quick steaming shower, running a blade over the bristling lines of his chiseled jaw, and stepping out of the shower, naked, into the bracingly cold air of the bathroom. He wrapped a towel around his hips and picked out one of many neatly hanging outfits.

After dressing, and pushing his damp hair back from his eyes, he walked down the echoing hallways of the tower to the kitchen. He went to the refrigerator and peered inside before taking out three sealed packages of bacon, and starting up the oven top.

It was looking like a calm day today. It had all the beginnings of a morning spent lounging either reading a book or watching television. Maybe the afternoon would bring a little havoc, or maybe not. There was always the option of going for a walk. The sun was out and didn't look like it would be giving up any of its territory to a rainstorm, or other such natural disaster. No, everything was looking pretty up.

Robin made eggs, sunny-side up. Nothing burned.

He sat at the little island in the kitchen, bringing his eggs and the heap of bacon forward. He took a bite.

The door hissed open and Robin perked. Beast Boy stepped through, looking groggy.

"'Sup, dude?" Beast Boy said, and shuffled up, grabbing a muffin from a bowl on the island and rummaging in a cupboard for a jar of grape jelly before settling into a seat across from Robin.

He sat there for a moment, before blinking and saying, "Oh."

"What?" asked Robin, still not having taken a single bite of his food.

Beast Boy put a hand on his tired face and turned on his stool to regard a drawer not five feet from where he sat. "I forgot to get a spoon."

The door opened again and Cyborg strode in, gazing intently at something flashing across a small screen on his arm. "Guys…"

Robin turned away from Beast Boy, grim-faced. "What is it?"

"This is really weird…" he scrunched up his eyebrows. "But… have either of you seen Raven and Starfire around?"

Robin raised his eyebrows, and turned in his seat, eggs forgotten. "Why?"

"We got a call early this morning. And I mean late-last-night, early-this-morning kind of early. You gotta listen to this…" Cyborg pressed a button on his arm.

All at once there was a harsh sound of static, and screaming.

"_Ow, ow! What are you, crazy? What are you doing?"_

"_I have to! I have to!"_

"_No! Star – ack! Put it down!"_

"_Wait, wait – ow! Eek! Look!"_

"_Oh, fuck!"_

There were sounds of scuffling and more screams. Something shattered. There was a gasp.

A thunk sounded across the line, like a body hitting the floor.

Silence.

Frantic whispers. The line went dead.

Cyborg, Robin, and Beast Boy looked at each other, wide-eyed.

"Dude!" Said Beast Boy. The sleep had disappeared from his face.

Cyborg strode forward to lay his hands on the counter. "There's something else." He took a breath. "The reason why I asked if you'd seen them – I checked my system. They haven't been in the Tower for three days."

"You mean they've been gone and none of us even noticed?" said Beast Boy, startled.

"How is this possible!" said Robin, running a hand through his hair. "What happened? Were they kidnapped?"

Cyborg shook his head. "I don't think so. Look." He pushed another button on his arm, and a hologram image was thrown up. It was security camera footage, gray with no audio, like a silent film. The girls were seen moving stealthily through the halls, shushing each other every now and then. They stopped at a corner, peering around, and then Starfire pointed down the hall, and then pointed at Raven. Raven didn't seem to agree with whatever Star was saying, and shook her head, pointing a finger in Star's face. An argument ensued, and their eyes looked wide and desperate and angry. There were lots of hand-waving, lots of pointing, and a lot of shaking heads. At one point Raven was pushing Starfire aggressively. Then Star seemed to have gone lead-bodied, and leaned all over Raven until she dropped her on the floor.

Raven shook her fists, a look of pure agonizing defeat on her face, and moved down the hall. She stopped in front of a door, glaring daggers back down the hall to where Starfire was.

"Hey!" went Robin, standing abruptly. It was his door.

Raven phased through the door and Robin stood stock still, concentrating fiercely on the spot she'd disappeared through. Starfire was seen to move and stand next to the door, looking anxious. Then, Raven popped out, out of breath, and nodded her head once to Starfire. Starfire seemed pleased, and gave Raven a brief hug before pulling her down the hall. They tiptoed quickly, moving to the roof, and the last thing the cameras captured was them taking off into the sky toward the city.

"Whaaat?" Beast Boy hopped off his stool, coming around to watch the footage again. "They left?"

The boys looked at each other, and then Beast Boy bolted for the door. He ran down the hallway, straight to Raven's room. Inside, it was cool, dark, and empty. He raced into Star's room. There were clothes strewn in a semi-circle around her dresser drawers and her closet. All of them the same, purple outfit she always wore. He went back to the kitchen, and sat next to Cyborg, who was poking at Robin's bacon.

"Why would they leave without telling us? What do you think is going on?"

Cyborg shook his head. "I've got no idea. That telephone recording was crazy. But, I don't know. They sounded okay, but just freaked out."

"You can't track them or something?"

"You don't think I've tried? They didn't take their communicators with them." Cyborg slammed a fist into the counter. "I knew I should have installed location chips in all of you! Why don't I listen to any of my good ideas?"

Beast Boy eyed Cyborg warily. "I really hope you didn't mean that."

Shaking his head, Cyborg said, "I don't know what's going on here, but it's definitely bad."

"Bad might not cover it," said Robin, looking grim as he walked into the kitchen. "I think I know why they went into my room."

Beast Boy and Cyborg raised their eyebrows.

Robin took his wallet out of his belt, and hit his palm with it before throwing it on the counter between them. "They took my money, and the Titan card."

"Damn." Beast Boy picked up the wallet and checked inside. Nothing. "Hey, you've got pictures of us in here! And… Oh, I'll just put that back in there…"

Cyborg looked excited, while Robin went red. "This may be a good thing. If they've been using the card, we can track them through their purchases."

"That's not mine," Robin said, snatching back the wallet. "I mean – it is mine but…"

"How much cash did you have in there?"

Still red, Robin replied, "Hundred and fifty."

Cyborg cursed. "Let's hope we get lucky, here. I'll check for purchases online."

Recovering slightly, Robin nodded. "Right. We'll check their rooms and see if there's anything in there to give us a clue where they went."

They made their way out of the kitchen, worried about Starfire and Raven, wondering where in the hell they were, and what they were doing.

What the hell would make them leave the Tower late at night, without telling anyone, without leaving a note? Why would they take Robin's money? What were they doing? Why hadn't they come home for three days? What was the story behind that strange recording?

**Stay tuned for next time on DRAGON BALL…. Oh, that's not the right story… heee!**

**I know that the Titans are somehow trackable, as demonstrated in some of the episodes, but for the sake of the story, pretend they're not. 'Kay? Thanks then. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Flip-Turn **

**(My bit)**

To accurately convey how the raw, fucked up mess they were in was inescapable and completely out of control, the first thing that had to be understood was the longing and desperation that led up to The Incident.

Hitherto, The Incident shall be subtitled, Starfire's Madness.

Anyway, we must go back – way, way back – to the distant beginning. Maybe a week.

It began with a girl named Till, whose only mention shall be done quickly, now, before Starfire gets riled up.

You would think, the way Till did her business – plastering her image on the city's billboards, blasting her voice through speakers floating just above citizens' heads – that she had it in for Starfire. She did. Till openly taunted the alien teen. But that wasn't her primary goal. She wanted everyone to see her. Everyone. Most importantly, the Titans. Even more importantly, Robin.

Yes, the Titans cringed too, when they figured this out.

_God, not another fangirl._

Robin valiantly strove to keep business as business. He ignored her as best he could. It came time, though, and the rest of the Titans backed him up, that he ought to put a stop to all of it, and let her down as gently as possible. Blunt, like he was – well things didn't go well. In fact, it was a disaster. Imagine – powerful, rich, fangirl throwing a hissy fit in the middle of a city. Now, imagine she had a robot army at her beck and call.

The Titans came to Robin's rescue, using their considerable strengths to pummel, crush, destroy, and generally subdue the robots. But somehow, the robots surged, and the battle that looked like it had been about to end, suddenly became the creature that never died. Till had caught Robin around the neck, a robot crushing his arms to his sides, as she leaned in slowly, trying to make the moment last, and kissed him full on the mouth.

A split instant later, Starfire had slammed into the slight girl with all the raging madness of a testosterone pumping linebacker. It was a good thing the girl's father had shown up after that, deactivating the remaining robots and picking his dazed daughter from the street by the collar of her blouse, and yanking her into a black SUV. Another moment and Starfire would have torn the girl's hair out, lit her on fire, broke her legs or something.

The father had apologized profusely, swearing that they wouldn't be seeing much of his daughter anymore (she was going to a strict boarding school – or at least, that's the polite term; it was more like a military/juvenile detention center) and he hopped in next to her, features set almost at the level of apocalyptically pissed-off as Starfire. They drove off, but not before Till got in her last shot at Starfire.

"At least _**I**_ got a kiss!" she screeched. "You'll never get a kiss because you're not nor-mph!"

A hand descended over her mouth, pulling her head back into the car, the window rolled up, and the vehicle drove away.

**(Back to story mode – btw, when in italics, it's a flashback and revolves around the girls)**

_There was a collective sigh of relief, and the air seemed to get a little cooler, the sun a little sunnier, when the black SUV had disappeared around a corner. _

"_That girl was…" Raven cocked her head to the side and frowned in distaste. _

"_Crazy," Beast Boy supplied, shaking his head. _

"_That's not the word I was looking for, but okay."_

_Cyborg stretched his arms above his head, working out a kink in his back. "I don't know which is the more dangerous anymore – evil, destructive bad guys, or Robin's fangirls."_

"_There's a difference?" said Raven, and Cyborg grinned as he rolled his shoulders. _

"_I'd rather face the evil, destructive bad guys than the lovey-dovey ones." Robin mumbled good-naturedly and the group erupted in laughter. Starfire joined in kind of late, but she'd laughed, and that was enough to quell the uneasy looks they'd been sending her way ever since Till had disappeared._

"_Let us return to the Tower," Starfire said, cheerful as all hell, further obliterating everyone's worries that she had taken Till's comment badly. "The fight has gotten me very hungry."_

_At the mention of hunger, and the implication of food at the Tower, everyone hustled home, all but forgetting their worries and the deluded Till._

_But Starfire didn't forget. No, she didn't forget…_

They met in Cyborg's room. He'd pulled up the listings on his computer screen.

"Unfortunately, they haven't used the card. The last purchase was made three nights ago when we had Thai. Since they've had the card, it hasn't been used."

"Damn." Robin put his fist to his mouth. This wasn't good. So , they had no leads whatsoever. "Check farther back. That might give us some sort of clue."

"Alright, this is what we've got for the last two weeks."

They stared at the screen, looking through the purchases. Nothing stood out, though. There was nothing expensive, nothing obvious. Groceries, a book, bubble-gum, pizza, a video game (Robin glared at Beast Boy), a train ticket, an iTunes card for fifty dollars.

Robin squinted. "That's not right."

Cyborg highlighted the purchases. "Made five days ago. 10:00 a.m. for the train ticket. 10:45 for the iTunes card. Ticket was one-way, and just the one…"

"Where did the train go?" asked Beast Boy.

Cyborg tapped at the computer. "Next town over. The iTunes card was purchased here, in the city."

"So, one of them went somewhere, on a train when both of them could fly, came back, and bought money for music?"

"Looks like it."

"What does that mean?"

Beast Boy brightened. He left the room, and returned with a chrome-topped black laptop. "Raven's the only one who's got a computer," he said as he laid the laptop on Cyborgs' desk and lifted it open. "It must have been her!"

"Still an odd thing to do," said Cyborg. "Especially for Raven."

Robin powered up the computer and they waited while it started up. A screen popped up – the backdrop was blue with a smoky raven in the center. It was demanding a password, with a blinking cursor underneath. Cyborg quickly overcame this obstacle, praying all the while that the thing wasn't magically booby-trapped as well.

It wasn't. He let out a grateful breath.

"Nervous," asked Beast Boy teasingly.

Robin opened up the iTunes application. "Looks like we know where the money went."

Three new albums. The Frozen Gnomes. The first album had the picture of a gnome with a Rambo-esque bandana around its head, holding a bowie knife, with one of its eyes blacked out. The second had a kitten in mid-leap, about to pounce on a gnome that was walking down a sidewalk, holding an ice-cream cone. The last album had a gnome standing at the precipice of a large building, the illuminated city of Las Vegas providing the backdrop – that gnome was facing away, out to the city, naked except for the pointy hat.

The titles of the songs were short – "Ocho", "delete me", "brick-eyed", "fo-stah".

Robin double clicked on "Fo-Stah", but stopped the track after the lead singer started crooning about a "chain-toothed, nipple-flickin' crumpled paper doll goin' through the motions with a jagged hard-on for destruction."

"Creative," he muttered. "But not what Raven usually listens to, is it? What does this tell us?"

"That Rae's got a freak-ear when it comes to music?" Beast Boy offered to the silence in the room, then, relented and said, "Why don't you check her browsing history? See what's going on there."

While Robin checked, Cyborg stood straight, considering the far wall, then moved to his computer again. "I've got an idea. I'm going to check the phone records. There might be something there."

Robin brought up a few addresses and opened windows for them. A Google map. A music video of the Frozen Gnomes. The Frozen Gnomes website. The Zagg concert hall website. He sent printed the image of the map, and Beast Boy examined it.

"So, this must be where they went on the train."

"Looks like it."

"There's more," said Cyborg. "Seems one of them has been making calls to that same area code. Lots of calls over the two days before they left. And check it out – the name of the person they've been calling?"

The screen read Tenant-Ripley, Lou.

"No," breathed Beast Boy. Suddenly he hopped up, startling Robin, who'd been right next to him. "Tell me that's not -! Lou Tenant! Ripley! Lou Tenant-Ripley! Tell me you see this!"

"What are you saying?" said Robin, eyes narrowed, exasperated by Beast Boy's antics. Cyborg briefly put a hand over his eyes.

"Beast Boy's freakin' out because that's the name of the lady from Alien – Lieutenant Ripley."

"Alien?"

Beast Boy's squee sounded like the air coming out of a balloon. "You don't know Alien?" He put his fists to his forehead. "You don't know ALIEN? How are you our leader?"

Irked, Robin ignored Beast Boy. "Named after a movie character – could be a pseudo."

"I think so too."

"Well, we've got the address. Looks like we'll be paying Ripley a visit."

Beast Boy seemed to calm down at that, and stared solemnly at the map. "So, where do the Frozen Gnomes fit in?"

Robin shrugged. "Maybe they don't. Maybe it's just a coincidence and Raven wanted to listen to some new music. Whatever it is, they've got a three day head-start on us. They haven't got back to us by now, so we're going after them, and Lou Ripley is where we start."

_Raven watched as Starfire snatched a pair of earphones out of her ears and stuffed them in between the couch cushions. All she'd done was walk into the TV room, thinking that she might go into town in the afternoon to buy a new book, and now she was looking down into Starfire's guilt-ridden wide, doe-eyes, wondering just how interesting this was going to be. _

"_What'cha got there, Star?"_

"_Oh…" The girl's eyes rolled around the room in a frenzied movement that seemed to leave her dizzy afterwards. "I…"_

_Raven raised an eyebrow and waited out the stammering and bumbling._

_Finally, Starfire just sighed and brought out the device she had been tinkering with. "I just wanted to listen to the songs. I was going to return it right afterwards. I found it."_

_She looked so downcast. Was that it? She fought off a sigh._

"_Star, it's fine. It's not like I'm going to crucify you for picking up an iPod." Raven left a beaming Starfire to head off to the kitchen. Five minutes later, she was showing Starfire how to maneuver with the device. Twenty minutes later, she heard Starfire trying to sing along as she passed her bedroom door. An hour later, Raven heard banging and crashing from Star's bedroom, which she surmised to be the girls' attempts at dancing. Five hours later, she was getting really into this one song, and was getting most of the words right. Twelve hours later, Star burst into Ravens' room, startling her out of REM sleep. _

"_Raven!"_

_Raven sat bolt-right up in bed and clutched her heart. "Hrgh – God!" She settled her frantic eyes on the intruder. "What the hell are you doing?"_

_Her tone was harsh, more surprised than angry, but still pretty ticked-off. _

"_Ah, um – eh-heh." Star twined her fingers together behind her back, suddenly unsure. "Oh. I shouldn't have come in here like that."_

_Raven grumbled her consent, hand still clutched over her racing heart. _

"_But," she went on, excited again. "I found out who this iPod device belongs to! See? Look here! There's a number and an address."_

_Raven didn't look, she stared at Starfire, torn between the decision to grab the iPod and toss it through the window or grab the iPod and jam it down her throat. Starfire went on talking, oblivious to her own impending peril._

"_So, I called!" She said, as if it were the most amazing thing in the world. "I just pushed the numbers in the order here; see? And then this voice came on, and I asked, 'Who is this?' And then the voice asked ME, 'Who is _this_?' And I said, 'Oh, my name… well I asked you first.' And then HE said, 'Well you called me – you have to tell me your name first. Doy.'"_

_Star looked slightly distressed, and she leaned forward into Raven's space. "I didn't want to tell him my real name… I thought…. Well, I thought…" She trailed off, and leaned away. _

_For some reason, Raven thought this – her leaning away – was stranger than having the girl in her breathing room. She calmed a degree, wondering. _

"_So what did you say," she prompted._

_Star's eyes went wide again – rebounding quickly. "I told him my name was Stephanie." She smiled. "It's a human name. Very common."_

"_Yes," Raven agreed. "Common." _Somehow it was suiting. She'd seen a few girls named Stephanie, and though none of them could do Starfire justice, they'd certainly fit the image. Cute, bubbly. Rife with that urg-ness.

"_So," Star went on, happily. "he told me, ' Okay, Stephanie, my name is Lou. Mind telling me why you called me at 1:00 in the morning?'"_

_Raven had to shake her head. Poor guy. He probably knew a few Stephanie's._

"_I told him I found his iPod. He didn't seem real excited at first. He was really sleepy. Then, I told him that I liked this song I found on his iPod – it was called 'The Queen'. I thought he would be angry to learn I had tampered with his device, but he was different after that. He said, 'Really? You liked it?'"_

"_It was a song he made. He has a band, Raven. Isn't that incredible?"_

_Raven nodded. It figured, really. But my, wasn't this interesting. Star was acting strange, and Raven had an itching feeling that she knew what was going on. Still, she didn't want to venture any assumptions. The last time that happened… _

"_So we were talking, and he told me all about his band and his music. He was so nice, talking to me – I thought it was so interesting!"_

_Starfire's boundless enthusiasm – her kindness, her sparkly optimism… how could the guy resist?_

"_So what's his band called," she asked, not really interested. _

"_The Frozen Gnomes," Star said, grinning. "He said he would give me one of their T-shirts when I returned the iPod device. I can't wait. I'm going tomorrow."_

_At that, Raven frowned. "You're going over there?"_

"_Yes, he doesn't have a vehicle so he couldn't come here."_

"_I don't suppose you told him where we lived, did you?" There didn't seem any need to be paranoid, but with Starfire's naiveté, anything could go wrong. But then again, she hadn't even told him her real name. _

"_Of course not," Star said. "I told him out city, but not that we lived at the Tower. That would be too obvious."_

"_Yeah, way too obvious." Raven reclined back into her pillows, suddenly feeling her previous sleepiness reemerge. "Why did you come in here?"_

"_Oh," Star placed her hand on her knees, apologetic. "I'd hoped to acquire the use of your lap-top. I wanted to check the address."_

_Starfire using googlemaps. Oh, the world – what was it coming to? A part of Raven was infuriated by the fact that Star had come into her room to check out some dude's address – something that could have been done just as effectively at Cyborg's computer orRobin's computer (although they were boys, so she supposed it wasn't too hard to imagine why Star had come to her) – or at the very least waited until morning. The other part was worried, and still a bigger part of her was just sleepy and wanted Star satisfied and out of her room. _

_Raven waved her hand in the general direction she'd left it. "S'over there."_

_Her brow furrowed as she heard books crashing. She cracked an eye over in that direction and found Star bending over, reassembling the toppled piles. That was odd too. Those stacks were nearly impossible to maneuver. Star could have just flown over them. _

"_The password's 'Gombah'," Raven sighed. "Take it to your room, Star. I want to go to sleep."_

"_Okay," Starfire chirped, knocking over more books. "Thank you, Raven."_

_Raven mumbled. _

_She'd figure this out in the morning, when her brain was working. _

**Sorry it's taken such a long time. Gotta keep the grades up, you know. **

**If you've been reading my hints effectively, you'll know what's going on. And, yeah, it's gonna be like that. Deal with it. **

**I just realized this is going to be slightly Hangover-ish. That's frightening. I'll get the next chapter up soon. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Yeeeeah… I wouldn't presume to entertain the idea of hordes of avid readers checking daily for updates and quietly (or even loudly) hating me for not continuing the story. No, I would never think anything like that. **

_Starfire laid out in her bed, head hanging over the side, ear buds stuck in her ears. _

_The music poured out of out of the marvelous device and washed through her. It was an incredible array of guitar notes, drum beats, and vocals. She was amazed that anyone could come up with a way to jam them all together so perfectly and produce something so intricate. All of the instruments harmonized and clashed, vibed and verbed. _

_And they were humans. Humans did this. _

_Just listening to the music astounded her. It was such an accomplishment to make good music. There were so many quick, clever twists to the lyrics and wild lifts to the beat. Starfire wondered at the boy whom she'd called just hours before. _

"_Lou," she said aloud, testing the name on her tongue. It was so simple a name. She tried to copy the way he'd said it to her. He spoke with this slow, drawling, unhurried cadence. It might have been the sleep, but he seemed like a very comfortable person. He was so nice. _

_She realized that she probably shouldn't have called him up so late. People were usually very cranky when pestered, as Raven aptly demonstrated. But he was very laid-back about it._

"_Hey, Steph – girl, I like talking to you," he'd said, followed by a long yawn. "But I've got class in the morning. How about you call me tomorrow…"_

"_You mean, later today," she corrected with an apologetic laugh. "I am sooo sorry, Lou. I did not mean to keep you up for so long."_

_He made a low, groaning sound like the kind Beast Boy makes after getting up off the couch. "S'no problem. You're a pretty cool chick. I'll talk to you later. Bye."_

"_Bye-bye," she'd replied, holding the telephone to her ear. She just caught the beginning of a little laugh as he clicked off the phone._

_She'd slipped on her earphones then, and awaited the morning. _

_All the while she kept thinking about what he'd said. _

_He liked talking to her. She was enjoyable to speak with. Never did she detect that quiet frustration that tinged her conversations with her friends. She knew there were still some things she just didn't get about the human culture – things about their speech and humor. And when she spoke, it was vividly apparent that she wasn't as well-versed as, for example, her older sister. _

_But with Lou, everything was more… comfortable. She felt like a normal girl, having a normal conversation._

_Starfire turned her head to the side, watching her darkened room quietly, steadily begin to fill with light. She felt lead-bodied, but forced herself to clamber to her feet and whipped her dark curtains open to watch the sun rise over the city skyline. _

_Today was a new day. She would speak to Lou again. They would exchange wonderful words and he would not know she was Starfire. She would be Stephanie – a normal Earth-girl. He would tell her more about his music, and his silly pizza-loving puppy, and his classes at the university._

There was an issue with transportation.

When they were in a group of five – Starfire, Raven, and Beast Boy flew and Robin and Cyborg followed in their own vehicles. It was somehow balanced that way.

With Raven and Starfire missing, the whole dynamic was thrown off. It didn't make sense for Beast Boy to fly and Robin and Cyborg to drive separate vehicles.

"What do you suggest?" Cyborg asked.

"Well," Robin started. "My bike doesn't waste as much energy as Cyborg's car so…" They watched him intently and he hesitated just a second. "Maybe Beast Boy could just fly you over and –"

Cyborg narrowed his eyes. "I know you don't think I'm going to get carried all the way to the next town. My car has more space – and it's electric, by the way so it's very economical. You can ride shot-gun. Beast Boy takes the back seat."

Robin crossed his arms and was silent for a beat. "You always have your lasers and canons activated. That thing is an energy guzzler. It's not economical."

"Not economical?" Cyborg scowled. "They have to be on all the time – do you know how long it takes for them to power up?"

"It's a baby tank," Robin pointed at Cyborg. "Do we need a tank for this mission?"

"We might."

Beast Boy watched them battle back and forth and rubbed at his brow in irritation. "You guys! C'mon. Why can't we just go the normal way?"

Robin couldn't stifle his groan of frustration. "It's just not right, that's why. Cyborg's car, my bike, you in the air – just seems unnatural." He sighed.

"Like it doesn't make sense without Starfire and Raven," added Cyborg. "Well, then why don't we all go in my car?"

"Will I get to drive?"

Cyborg looked startled. "What?"

"Nothing, nevermind… I don't want to go in the car."

Beast Boy and Cyborg looked Robin up and down. He seemed withdrawn and defensive.

Old memories pressed into Robin's head. Riding shotgun in the Titan car; yes, he'd done it before, but… it reminded him of another tank-like vehicle. The past – riding with his old partner. Passenger side, the side-kick seat. Aka the bitch seat.

"Well, you know what," piped up Beast Boy. "I don't really want to carry Cyborg. I'm not saying he's heavy but…" Cyborg scowled at him. "… I've been getting some back-strain. In fact, I don't know if I really want to fly at all. You guys are right. When we're flying out for a mission, Rae and Star are always there with me. Seems weird."

Cyborg sighed. "Why is this so difficult? This isn't the stuff we should be concentrating on. Let's just go, we're wasting time with this dumb shit."

"mumble, mumble..."

"Wait, wait, wait," Beast Boy raised his hands. "How 'bout this, how 'bout this… Cyborg, you get on back with Robin, so both of you get to stay on the ground, and that way I don't carry anyone. I'll fly if I don't have to carry anyone."

They both looked at him with deep frowns.

"Hell no."

"Fuck that."

"What? What's wrong with that one?"

Robin shook his head at the image of them both straddling his bike with Cyborg's hands gripping his waist. Even Robin had his limitations – a barrier where that natural male homophobia flared up. They just couldn't go into the city like that.

"It's too gay, dude," said Cyborg, and Robin nodded emphatically.

They all let out a collective sigh and stood silently for a while. Each broiled in irritation.

"Hold up," Beast Boy slapped them both on the shoulder. "Let's use the subway – it'll be slow, but that way we could look for clues along the way. Actually, she left around this time, we could probably get on the same car she did. I'll catch her scent. Maybe she stopped somewhere on the way – you never know."

Robin raised his eyebrows, surprised at Beast Boy's insight. "You're right. That could help."

Cybrog shrugged. "Three of the Titans riding in a sub-car. Yeah, that won't draw attention."

"So we blend," Beast Boy smiled. "We'll put on normal clothes. Don't draw attention to ourselves." He was suddenly excited at the prospect. "No one will know who we are. That might help. People kind of avoid us."

Robin nodded. Yes, people usually did avoid them. Perhaps they were intimidated… or perhaps they knew that if the Titans were around, trouble was close. "Alright, get changed. Meet back here in five minutes."

**Seven Minutes Later**

"If you didn't have anything, why didn't you say so?"

"I thought I might improvise."

"Yeah, improvise yourself a sense of color. I can't believe you were really going to wear your cape like that."

"I was going to staple it shut." Robin said defensively.

Cyborg rubbed his jaw, contemplating his team mate's new wardrobe. It consisted mostly of Beast Boy's clothes. Somehow, Beast Boy had a wider selection of clothing; however, most of it was novelty crap. The only thing that looked halfway decent was a black shirt with a tuxedo front and an obnoxious pink daisy attached to the front. The kind that squirted water through a hand pump. Robin also had on a pair of Beast Boy's denim jeans. They didn't fit, but… "Damn, well, that might work."

"They're too big."

Beast Boy grinned mischievously and waggled his eyebrows. "You bet they're too big."

Robin frowned, ignoring him. "They keep falling down."

"Just say you're the new Marky-Mark. We'll call you… Robby-Rob. Oooooh!"

Cyborg shook his head at Beast Boy. "Man, what's wrong with you? And take that off of your head. You're not wearing that outside."

Beast Boy pressed his hands down his sides, smoothing out the fabric of his jacket. "But it matches the blazer."

"It's a safari helmet, Beast Boy," Robin said faintly, trying to balance the waist band of the denim jeans on his hips. "the only thing it matches is a kick in the ass." The pants slipped and he caught them against his groin. "Damn."

"Hold on, I've got it." Cyborg produced a length of wiring and handed it to Robin.

Robin put the wiring through the loops of his pants. The length was perfect. He tightened the hold, and twisted the stripped copper ends together to secure it. It was too bad he couldn't borrow one of Cyborg's sweaters. They'd probably come down to his knees and he looked frumpy as it was.

Cyborg himself was wearing a pretty good-looking track suit set with white t-shirt underneath. He wore a baseball cap that covered, for the most part, his metal parts. He looked the most normal and put together of the three.

Robin looked sort of spindly underneath all of the baggy clothes. Of course, he wasn't, but no one would look at him and think he was threatening at all. Though he was tall, he wasn't nearly as filled out as Beast Boy, not to mention Cyborg. His muscularity was more subtle.

Still, though Beast Boy was larger, he hardly looked threatening at all. In fact, people might have thought him even less threatening than Robin. Despite the size and breadth of him, he was as silly-looking as a rubber chicken.

Cyborg took a deep, steadying breath. "I swear, Beast Boy."

"What? It _matches_ the shoe-laces." He wrapped the scarf once more around his neck. "If I don't wear it with the shoe-laces, it'll throw the whole thing off. I'll look ridiculous."

"Yeah, _that_ would have been it. If it was going to be anything, _that_ would make you look ridiculous."

"And the shades?" Robin shook his head. "You've got to be kidding."

"They're cool – they've got mirrors on the sides so I can see what's behind me."

"Yeah – OR you could, and this is might seem revolutionary to you, just TURN YOUR HEAD."

"Hey, hey, I wouldn't say anything if I were you." Beast Boy tapped the corners of his eyes. "You going to keep that mask on? How about obvious! Like that wouldn't be as ridiculous as the helmet."

"So you admit it's ridiculous."

"I admit you're an asshole."

"Hold on, hold on. Beast Boy has a point."

Robin looked at Cyborg as if he'd just committed the ultimate betrayal.

"You can't wear the mask, man. It'll give everything away."

Robin folded his arms over his chest. The rubber daisy squeaked. "I can't take it off."

"Hmm." Beast Boy cocked his head to the side. "Hup!" He took the shades off of his head and jammed them onto Robin's face, over the mask. "There. Problem solved."

"Ow." Robin rubbed the bridge of his nose.

Cyborg looked at Beast Boy. "That's twice today you've had a pretty good idea." Robin slipped his mask out from under the shades and looked grim. "And you've just solved my other problem."

Beast Boy's self-satisfied grin faltered slightly at the look in Cyborg's eyes. "What problem?"

"You." He produced another rope – actually a leash. "If Robin's going to be blind, you're going to be his seeing-eye dog."

Beast Boy brought down the helmet, held it to his chest and let out a mournful, "Oh."


	4. Chapter 4

_Raven was sitting in the backseat. That in itself was a testament to how unusual this event was turning out to be. She'd never been a back-seat kind of girl. That was the joy of being able to fly – you didn't have to sit through traffic and car-sickness. But there she was, jammed between two amps, holding a leather satchel in her lap, channeling her blistering anger at the back of Starfire's head._

_But the girl was immune to Raven's vibes. She was sitting, back straight, gripping her seatbelt tightly with both hands. She was in the front passenger's seat, watching the city's neon scenery slip by as if it were all glorious and spectacular to her. Well, it was new, given that they were seeing it through a car door window; but both of them had flown by these buildings many, many times before, so technically it was nothing new. _

_All this for some boy, who was – well, okay: somewhat intriguing. _

_Raven glanced at him through the rear-view mirror. Their eyes met. _

_Quickly, she turned her gaze away – but that irked her. By turning away like that, she was falsely implicating herself. It would look as if she were embarrassed to be looking at him. It would look as if she had been peeking at him. She rolled her eyes and forced herself to look back into the mirror._

_Looking pissed was a far cry better than looking like a crush-girl. _

_She'd sort of hoped he would have glanced away, and taken the matter out of her hands, but his eyes were still there when she looked back. He frowned at her scowl. Good._

"_Hey, Rae, sorry about," he said with an apologetic grimace. "riding in the back with the amps and all that…"_

"_Yeah," Raven drawled out slowly, and then relented. It wasn't the worst situation she'd ever been in. And from what Starfire had told her about him, he'd had enough grief in the past few days without her bringing in her negativity. Raven shrugged her shoulders. "It's fine. I should be thanking you, really. We don't get out of the house much… me and my sister…"_

_What a ridiculous lie!_

_Starfire perked at the mention of 'sister'. "Yes, ah, we've been sisters for a very long time…. Ah, we stay in a lot, you know - _

"_Yeah, a lot." Technically, she wasn't lying… but those were little details. They _did_ get out pretty often – travelled all over the world, into _space_! – but that didn't count now._

"_We don't get to do a lot of things. We have hardly _seen_ the Outside World. It is so pretty…" _

"_Oh, no… it's not like we save cities or rescue people…" It was funny how Star's smile could go from sunny bright to razor sharp. Jeez, the girl could send a shark scurrying for cover._

_Starfire glared over her shoulder. "… because we go to a church-school."_

_Raven nodded earnestly at Lou. "Oh, yes. Those church schools – very strict. We go to one of those."_

_Lou focused his attention on the road and made a few quick glances left and right before easing his car into the main road with a rattle and a shake. In that time, Starfire growled low at Raven over the back of her chair, eyes glowing green. That look could have said nothing except, "shut the fuck up, bitch, or you'll be muttering your smart little quips through a straw in your face!" _

_Raven smartly shut her mouth and sat back, letting this Lou I'm-broke-but-artistic-drive-a-shit-car-play-bass-and-sing-in-a-struggling-band-guy drive them through the bustling city to who-the-hell-knew-where…_

…

A woman was steadily picking her way through the darkened neighborhood collecting the more interesting of discarded items scattered on the sidewalks and gutters. She was teetering on her good leg, trying to balance her crutch and her basket while she adjusted her loose underwear, when she stepped into an alley. And in that alley, she beheld a sight that may have shocked or given pause to any other mere mortal, but which she coolly took in stride.

She grunted a greeting to the blind man – a short fellow (at least compared to his companion) with baggy jeans rolled up at the bottoms to a comically wannabe-homie effect; beside him, a metal plated jogger with a fascinatingly square jaw (and for whom she sucked in her gut as she passed) was staring over her head as though distracted. It was understandable – most men were intimidated by her beauty, she knew. She paused a moment to toss a treat to the green dog that fidgeted distressedly at their feet. She'd seen men so dirty they turned green in certain places, but the green never reached around the whole body. The smell was something awful. But then, it might have been her: she'd fallen into a gutter earlier that day and hadn't had enough bourbon left in her bottle to rub everything out of her hair. But it didn't bother her.

And on she hobbled, stopping again at the mouth of the alley to pick her underwear up from around her ankles, and then disappearing around the corner.

Cyborg and Robin unfroze and let out a breath.

"Urgh," Robin winced and gagged. "premature – premature! I can still taste the smell in the air."

"Mmm," Cyborg found he could not speak quite yet. Had she really winked at him? He shuddered.

Beast Boy shifted from his canine form and wiped his hands down the sides of his pants. "Jeez, can you believe it? I thought that last guy we passed was bad. And you guys have no idea – man, with my dog-nose… ugh! The smell! I can't – I just -"

"Shh," said Robin. "Let's just stay in this alley for a bit. I don't want to go out into the middle of the streets. We might look suspicious."

"Oh, WE might look suspicious. Didn't you see those little dudes wearing army jackets two blocks over? The crazy-eyed, machete-wielding old man with the goatee? Sunflower shades, with the razor wire tattoo across her face? Not to mention the hard-looking old lady that waltzed right past us without a tremor – as if we were little bitty flower girls!"

Robin screwed up his mouth, remembering the flavor of burnt ham, cigarette smoke, and urine at the back of his tongue… yeah, those army dudes: mean-looking ten-year-olds, they were.

"This isn't a good neighborhood," said Beast Boy nervously. "I feel the grime seeping in through my pores." He swept his fingers roughly across his cheeks, as if to scratch away a thick layer of dirt. "It sort of makes me want to cry… who would live here?"

"People with no choice," said Cyborg, trying not to sound defensive. It wasn't like people chose to live in places like this. He tried not to pass off judgment on his best friends. How did he know if they came from places like this or not? They'd all pretty much been spoiled by life in the Titan Tower. But none of them really came from good backgrounds. Except maybe Starfire, who was technically royalty – but that was a weird, tough, barbaric place, so it didn't really count.

He realized suddenly that regardless of how well they all knew each other now, each of their pasts were deeply guarded. Maybe it came with the superhero stuff. All the secrecy – even from best friends. Yeah, keeping secrets. That's what had them out here to begin with. The girls.

_What was it that they couldn't tell us about?_ Though Cyborg worriedly.

"Hey - Maybe the people that live here are good, honest people that are just trying to get by. But it's also true that desperation can lead people to do some pretty sick shit. So let's just keep our heads down and try not to draw attention, okay?"

Robin, the voice of reason.

"Aye, aye, Captain. Stealth mode it is." Beast Boy stopped making faces and made an effort to look more professional. "Do I have to change back into a dog, though… its' pretty tough, y'know…"

"Nah, we should be alright here." Cyborg indicated over his shoulder with a subtly nod of his head. "The place is across the street, three buildings down. Third floor apartment – I'd say, the whole floor. Looks pretty shitty – small, dark. Patched up window facing east."

"Yeah, I see it."

No lights on upstairs, but a window was open… Who would leave a window open in a place like this? Granted, it was three floors high and it was on the face of the building, but… it just looked eerie. That window open, a dark, ragged curtain spilling out and floating in the soft wind.

What had the girls done in this place?

"Alright," said Robin. "Beast Boy, scope it out. See if there's any other way in."

"Gotcha."

Beast Boy quickly morphed into something small, with sharp, almond eyes and a high, bushy tail and streaked past their legs. He went across the street and leapt into a large patch of grass. The grass was tall, but you could see the tip of Beast Boy's tail poking out as he ran through the yard and around the side of the house.

Cyborg peeked out of the alley at the tall but narrow apartment that swooned unsteadily in the cool night breeze. Soon, they heard Beast Boy's voice through the small nubs in their ears.

"Guys. Door at the back, two big windows into the first floor about shoulder height. Oh, wait, there's a small window here on the ground – hold on…" There was silence and then, "okay, I'm in the basement. Looks okay. I'm going for the back door. Sit tight."

Cyborg and Robin nodded to each other and quickly made their way across the street and around the house. They had just leapt over the chain-linked fence into the back yard when Beast Boy's voice sounded in their ears.

"Shit! Guys: someone's up."

Light poured blearily through the window over their heads. They pressed themselves into the side of the house and waited. There were sounds of shuffling and the creak of wood. Drawers opening, the rattle of a refrigerator door swinging shut. A jar hitting the counter.

The walls weren't especially thin… someone must be angry. And angry people didn't tent to go back to sleep quickly. Robin and Cyborg silently debated the pros and cons of busting in and taking care of the matter quickly, and each had his eyes trained on the other, as if passing arguments back and forth. But then they heard sounds of a second person entering the room above them. Words were exchanged. Short, choppy words. The weight of their footfalls, plus the deep tones of their voices indicated they were both male; not exactly light bodies, either. Maybe they'd put up a fight, raise a racket – draw unwanted attention.

_Invisible sleep gas?_ Robin expressed with his eyes. He raised a small, round gumball shaped object.

_Bio-EMP has the same effect._ Cyborg countered with his raised eyebrows. He tapped his electronic wrist.

Neither had time to get into it.

"Guys! No, ohgodohgod," Beast Boy whispered frantically into their ears. They heard a small, tiny, "oh, nooooo…."

There was a surprised exclamation from inside and something clattered noisily to the floor. Robin and Cyborg, taken off guard, stared at each other dumbly for a moment. They heard another exclamation – one of a lesser degree of surprise, like an aftershock to the first shout.

And then there came Beast Boy's plaintive, "Oh… hey."

…

_It was eleven in the morning. Someone was supposed to come for them by now. The party had ended five hours ago, and the guy had said to meet him at the blue house. And here she was, at the blue house, or at least the bluest house she could find, and where was he?_

_This was all so strange. She couldn't remember leaving the club. Who the hell had she left with? But she did remember grabbing this bag, and the jacket when came back to look for Starfire. No, wait – they handed it to her. Just looked at her, and pushed the things into her hands and shoved her out the door. _

_The first time?_

_No – yeah, she'd gone over this already in her head. The second time she came in… The first time, she had been sure she'd left with Starfire. After all, she was wearing Starfire's clothes when she came in the second time._

_But then that brought up the question of how she'd gotten into Starfire's clothes… At some point, she was sure she had gotten naked. Was she stripped? Or did she do it herself? And also: where was Starfire without her clothes?_

_The whole thing was messed up._

_She waited at the blue house, because that's what the man had told her before pushing her out the door. She could have demanded to be let back in – scared the crap out of him, dangled him three hundred feet over the city and made him tell her… in fact she could go do that right now! What was she waiting here for?_

_Oh, that's right._

_He said, "wait at the blue house. Man tell me to tell you – go! This yours now. Go! Girl with green eyes. She meet you there. Yes, that what she say! Go! Tell her to stay away. You no come back. She no come back. Both of you stay away from my place!" _

_And slam, and then she was out on the streets, staring painfully into the bright sky. _

_And then she came here to the blue house. Yes, she went through it again in her mind. This was where she needed to be. Sitting patiently on a bar stool, staring at the door, waiting._

"_Wha' hallo," said a voice at her side. She swayed in her seat and clutched the jacket and the back to her stomach. Her head bobbed precariously on her neck. Everything tilted about five degrees – became all wrong-ways down and side-ways up. _

"_Hay, hay!" A hand steadied her gently. A big hand. A male hand. She tilted her head crookedly to the side – a tall man – she tilted her head up. "You al'wright there?"_

_Two astonishingly blue eyes crinkled down at her and she swayed again. He mistook the sway for a nod._

"_Arr y'shur?" _

_She licked her lips. They were dry. Her tongue was dry. She tried to swallow. Couldn't._

"_Why d'you talk like that," she inquired thickly. Was that a slur in her voice? God, why did her head feel so thick and muddled?_

_He gave a small, deep chuckle._

"_Should we go to the bar? Rr-aye-ven?"_

_She couldn't speak. How did he know her name? She stared into his blue, blue eyes again and tried to figure out if she'd seen this person before. It was then that she noticed that he wasn't wearing a shirt. His chest was bare and his skin was so close to her arm, she could feel the faint heat of him. It made her feel cold to feel that heat. She was so cold. _

_She felt the jacket and the bag slipping from her lap and lurched forward to gather them more firmly in her hands. It was then that she noticed that, this man also wasn't wearing pants. No shoes, either – not any socks. In fact, she realized sluggishly, he wasn't wearing anything. He was naked. _

_Raven registered this without a bit of alarm. She knew in the back of her mind that she ought to react to this knowledge, but whatever synapses that usually took care of her normal reactions just weren't meeting. His nakedness passed over her like a wet sponge. _

_She did, thankfully, have the presence of mind to refrain from hanging her head over his junk and drool dumbly over it. She settled her gaze on a safer zone: his chest. _

_Oh, those nipples. She could write poems about those nipples. Delectable. Scrumptious. _

"_Sure you want ta go t'the ba-rr," he said, putting an arm around her, bringing his nipples closer. "Here, ah'll get you somthin' ta drink – calm you down. We'll take it in th'back. Manager isn't here – we'll have a bit a' privacy."_

_He gently picked her up and carried her around the counter and set her down behind the bar. While he made her drink – her favorite – she lolled passively on her seat and he surveyed the destruction she caused when she entered. _

_Upturned chairs. A smashed table. Broken glass. Just surface damage – clutter damage. Nothing serious, thankfully. _

_Scared most of the clientele away, though. And then she just climbed up onto a stool and sat there staring stone-eyed at the door. _

_He handed her the drink and she sipped at it. He saw the color start to come back to her cheeks and took a bit of time to wipe the smudged lipstick from her face. Her mascara was all to shit and one of her fake eye-lashes was missing. _

_Darling girl. What a train wreck. And just in from the convent, too, he'd heard. A real messed up way to get acquainted with the city. _

_He slid his arms around her and lifted her up again, moving to the back room. She sipped at her drink and traced little circles around his nipples with the tips of her fingers, murmuring softly to herself about comparing something to a summer's day. He swept the curtain aside with this foot and carried her into the hallway that ran through the back of the bar. The music wasn't so loud in here. He passed the many-doored hallway and climbed the stairs. _

_She'd just latched onto his nipple with her mouth, when he reached his room. He had to let her feet go to open the door. Inside, she rested her hands against his chest and pulled her mouth and her swirling tongue away from his flesh. _

_She looked up into his eyes and smiled. "Always wanted to do that – you have no idea." She patted his chest. "You have the most wonderful nipples. Same as this other – t'other… hmm." She closed her eyes briefly and suddenly looked very sad. "Oh, I bet I would have liked those nipples too. I think they would have been great, right? Don't you think so?"_

"_Oh, ah know so, darlin'." He assured her. With the utmost kindness and care, he pried the bundle of stuff she held against her and set it on his desk. Then he led her to his bed and wrapped her up in his blanket and wiped her bare feet with his pillowcase. _

_She dropped off to sleep effortlessly, and he brushed a kiss across her forehead and left her in a warm, comfortable darkness._

**Comments are welcome, even if it's just to kick my ass around. Seriously, though: Bring it bitches. **


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